PROVIDENCE — With the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange set to go online this fall and offer 28 different health plans, the Rhode Island Catholic Conference and Rhode Island Right to Life are asking...

Randal Edgar RandyEdgar1

PROVIDENCE — With the Rhode Island Health Benefits Exchange set to go online this fall and offer 28 different health plans, the Rhode Island Catholic Conference and Rhode Island Right to Life are asking why none of those plans will cater to people who don’t want coverage for abortions.

The exchange — the system by which individuals and small businesses will be able to shop for health insurance that nearly everyone has to buy under the federal health care overhaul — is not required by federal law to offer plans that don’t cover elective abortion.

But given the controversy over the abortion issue, and provisions in the federal law that have allowed at least 17 states to restrict abortion coverage in their exchanges, some are asking why all 28 plans to be offered in Rhode Island will force people to pay for the coverage.

“Not only did we not restrict abortion on the exchange, as a number of states have done, we have an exchange where all the plans cover elective abortion, and therefore require a mandatory abortion fee from all enrollees,” said Barth E. Bracy, executive director of Rhode Island Right to Life. “On the face of it, we believe that this is a problem that anybody would want to correct.”

The lack of an opt-out provision came to light at a House Finance Committee meeting last week, as Christine C. Ferguson, director of the exchange that Governor Chafee created through an executive order, responded to a question from Rep. Raymond A. Hull, D-Providence.

Hull asked how many of the plans will cover “elective abortions and how many will not,” to which Ferguson replied: “All of those plans, to the best of my knowledge at this point, offer women’s reproductive health services.”

As she noted health plans now available to small businesses, Ferguson said this is “a reflection of what’s offered in the market.”

The administration had little more to add Friday when asked about the concerns raised by Rhode Island Right to Life and the Rhode Island Catholic Conference.

“Prior to passage of the Affordable Care Act, all individual and small-group insurance plans in Rhode Island have included coverage for comprehensive women’s reproductive health issues,” said exchange spokesman Ian Lang. “The exchange does not change this in any way, including the longstanding rule that no federal or state funds can be used for elective abortions.”

Rep. Arthur J. Corvese, D-North Providence, said he plans to introduce a bill next week that would require the exchange to offer additional plans with no elective abortion coverage — an idea championed by the Rhode Island Catholic Conference.

“The General Assembly has an opportunity to fix this moral dilemma by creating exchanges that do not force individuals to violate their conscience and pay for abortions,” said the Rev. Bernard A. Healey, the conference’s director.